16 BIOGRAPHIES OF SCIENTIFIC MEN 



(18th October 1748), and a statue of Louis XV. was erected 

 there by the Municipal Council of Paris the square then 

 receiving the name of Place Louis XV. On 30th May 

 1770, at a display of fireworks to celebrate the marriage 

 of the Dauphin, afterwards Louis XVI., with Marie 

 Antoinette, a panic arose which resulted in the death 

 of 1200 persons, and 2000 seriously injured. During the 

 Reign of Terror in 1793 the guillotine was erected on the 

 spot where now stands the Obelisk of Luxor (twin monolith 

 to Cleopatra's Needle). Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette 

 were among the first victims, and between January 1793 

 and May 1795, upwards of 20,000 persons were guillotined. 

 In 1799 the famous square was named the Place de la 

 Concorde ; it was afterwards renamed after Louis XV., 

 and in 1826 after Louis XVI., and, finally, in 1830 it was 

 again renamed the Place de la Concorde ; and it was on 

 the site where the Obelisk now stands that our hero 

 Lavoisier was executed his work unfinished, but he left 

 a fine legacy to posterity. 



His house was in the Place de la Madeleine, Paris ; 

 and in 1900 (a hundred and six years after his death) a 

 beautiful bronze statue of him, by Barrias, which rests 

 on a massive granite pedestal, was erected in the same 

 square and opposite the house where Lavoisier lived. 

 The pedestal bears the inscription : 



Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, 1743-1794, le fondateur de la chimie 

 moderne. Erige" par souscription publique, sous le patronage de 



